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About the Author

Tom Sileo is co-author of 8 SECONDS OF COURAGE (Simon & Schuster, 2017), FIRE IN MY EYES (Da Capo, 2016) and BROTHERS FOREVER (Da Capo, 2014). He is a contributing senior editor of The Stream and recipient of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation's General O.P. Smith Award for distinguished reporting. Previously, Tom worked at CNN as a copy editor. Follow him on Twitter @TSileo.

The couple originally met in Nashua, New Hampshire, while Mitch was attending Daniel Webster College. Even though neither forgot meeting the other, Mitch and Samantha didn't see each other again until two years later.

"I kind of laughed with him, and then after that, we just kind of became one," Samantha said.

The couple started dating on Dec. 14, 2008. From the beginning, Samantha loved her future husband's defining traits.

"Mitch was very bold, competitive and strong-willed," she said.

Mitch had wanted to join the military from a young age, but promised family members that he would get his college degree first. After the death of his grandfather, who had lost both his legs while serving overseas before Mitch was born, he decided to follow his selfless example.

"After what happened with Grandpa Ken, he knew he had to join the military," Samantha said. "He felt like he just had to do it."

Mitch's next decision would initially break Samantha's heart.

"Mitch said he didn't want to see me anymore," she said. "I was shocked by it."

The future soldier loved his girlfriend so much that he didn't want her to endure the rigors of military life.

"He told me later that was why he broke up with me ... because he didn't want me to go through what his grandmother did," Samantha explained. "If he came back without legs, or not at all, he didn't want me to go through it."

Just before Mitch started basic training, he visited Samantha at her parents' house.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he said.

"Let's do this," Samantha responded.

Samantha and Mitch got engaged on March 14, 2011. In the years ahead, the couple would only be separated by geography when Mitch's job required it. He trained at Georgia's Fort Benning and was stationed at Texas' Fort Bliss before learning that he would deploy to Afghanistan in December 2012, just six months after he and Samantha were married.

Before Mitch went to war, he had an unimaginably painful conversation about Afghanistan with his worried bride.

"I need to be the first man to jump in ... the first man to help," the soldier told his wife. "And I don't think I'm coming back."

During a Skype conversation on May 12, 2013, Mitch told Samantha that he'd been given an even bigger role on his combat team.

"As soon as he got promoted to team leader, I knew he wasn't coming back," she said.

When she answered the door two days later, Samantha's worst fears were realized.

"It didn't feel real," she emotionally recounted. "I kept waiting to wake up from a nightmare."

Less than a month after the Boston Marathon bombings, the same spirit of togetherness that was famously displayed by New Englanders quickly surrounded Samantha and her loved ones.

"My front yard (was) filled with people," she recalled. "Friends drove from all over ... cards (were) all over."

For many of us, the fourteenth of each month is just another date on the calendar. For Samantha Daehling, it is a reminder of the days she met, got engaged and married the man she loves.

"The fourteenth is not a day for me to be lying in bed crying," she said. "The fourteenth — and every day of the year — is a day for me to live for him."

COPYRIGHT 2014 CREATORS.COM

Tom Sileo is a nationally syndicated columnist and co-author of BROTHERS FOREVER: The Enduring Bond Between a Marine and a Navy SEAL that Transcended Their Ultimate Sacrifice. Written with Col. Tom Manion (Ret.) and published by Da Capo Press, BROTHERS FOREVER is available now. To find out more about Tom Sileo, or to read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website.

1 comment:

The 11th annual Memorial Day Ceremony will be held Sunday May 25th, 2014 at the Northwood Gratitude and Honor Memorial in Irvine, CA. The Memorial honors by name all the Fallen American Heroes from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition to two public ceremonies each year, we provide free name rubbings to Gold Star Families and friends of the fallen. For more information visit www.NorthwoodMemorial.com.